BIO: Jett grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota and was raised by his single mother in a home with a sister, brother and two cousins Jett considers brothers.

His mother, a track star, used to take him to the park where he’d watch his brother and cousins play basketball and football. By the age of nine, Jett was playing organized basketball.

For his first two years of high school, Jett attended Saint Agnes High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota where he played basketball and football.

In 2007, he transferred to Saint Bernard’s High School, where as a senior in 2008/09, he averaged 20 points, five assists and five steals per game.

He then moved to Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Massachusetts for a prep season in 2009/10.

There, he played for coach Ryan Hurd, and averaged a team-high 14 points to go with seven rebounds, and five assists.

He helped the Crusaders to a 27–7 record, and the No.4 seed at the 2010 National Prep Championship tournament.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Jordair Jett made his NBL debut with the Townsville Crocodiles at 24 years of age. He scored eight points in his first game.

Front office changes and financial limitations saw the Crocodiles struggling to gain clarity on their future in the competition, resulting in player recruitment becoming extremely challenging for Townsville. The first impact of this saw Todd Blanchfield, who earned the NBL Most Improved Player the season prior, relocate to Melbourne and sign with the re-branded Melbourne United. Coach Shawn Dennis would sign Nicholas Kay, who was returning home after four years at Metro State College of Denver and then rounded out the rest of the roster by signing players happy to play for near league minimum contracts, mostly young talent unable to latch on with other team’s or veteran players other team’s had given up on. Luke Schenscher (via Adelaide), Corey Maynard and Mitchell Young (both via Cairns) were clear examples of that.

NBL MVP Brian Conklin was re-signed and appointed team captain and paired with incoming import Jordair Jett.

The season began with two consecutive losses to Melbourne United (84-99) at home and New Zealand (81-89) in New Zealand. But then, in surprising fashion, Townsville, who had won a total of three away games the previous season, defeated Sydney (80-77) and Perth (66-63) on their home floor in back-to-back rounds.

Townsville’s season quickly turned sour after that, highlighted by their 31-point defeat at the hands of Melbourne in late October and having the worst record in the league (2-9) after the first few months of the season. Then, when the team faced the Perth Wildcats at home, Conklin was involved in a ugly on-court incident involving Perth Wildcats guard Damian Martin Martin. During the fourth quarter of the Crocodiles win over the Wildcat’s (89–77), Conklin’s errant elbow collided with and broke Martin’s jaw. Despite a call from Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze for Conklin to be suspended for at least six weeks, the NBL cleared Conklin of any wrongdoing. A similar situation arose during a brutal loss to Adelaide (65-89) less than two weeks after the Martin encounter, where Conklin (21 points and 12 rebounds) was in the spotlight again for another elbow incident, this time for striking 36ers forward Mitch Creek in a similar manner. He subsequently received a three-match suspension, with two of those games suspended for the rest of the season.

By the end of November, sitting at the bottom of the ladder (4–10), Townsville terminated Conklin’s contract due to what the club claimed was a number of ‘sub-par performances’. Conklin (13.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game) later took to social media to share his version of the truth, which pointed the finger at Townsville wanting to reduce costs as the reason for his release. The Crocs would bring in a former college teammate of Patty Mills, Omar Samhan (13 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks), as Conklin’s replacement a week later.

Schenscher (4.1 points and 3.1 rebounds) also struggled with injuries and with nine games remaining, Townsville chose to add Harry Froling (1.6 points and 0.8 rebounds), a member of Townsville’s junior program, as an injury replacement player for him.

While Jett (15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.1 steals) struggled in the team’s early games, he would explode during the second half of the season, leading the team in scoring with Mirko Djeric (5.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) delivering his best season to date. With Townsville now firmly focused as a team, their work was rewarded in the second half of the season, winning half of their remaining games (7-7). This included a upset victory over Adelaide will go down in Townsville history as perhaps the most exciting finish to a game. The win showcased the fighting qualities instilled in the Crocs and even in the most unlikely circumstances, a team must play to the final buzzer.

Despite again finishing with a winning record at home (8-6) but only three road wins for the season, Townsville would finish second last on the ladder (11-17) with Jett being awarded the Kevin Sugars Medal (club MVP).

Despite the hardships Townsville was viewed as overachievers for the most part and coach Shawn Dennis was rewarded by the league with the NBL’s coach of the year trophy. The Croc’s cleaned up on awards night with Nicholas Kay (10.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) also winning Rookie of the Year and Clint Steindl (12.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists) earning Most Improved Player.

Although Townsville had a verbal commitment from the league they would be able to continue playing with their support, the inability to raise enough money from the community saw their eventual demise. Kay and Mitchell Norton (8.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists) both signed deals with Illawarra and while Young found a spot with Brisbane. Unable to find deals in Australia, Steindl and Djeric both ventured overseas, Luke Schenscher retired and coach Shawn Dennis would end up coaching in the Japanese national league.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS
2018/19
After falling short of making the playoffs by only a few games in 2018, the Hawks lost several key players, including Demitrius Conger (to Serbia), Rotnei Clarke (to Greece), Nicholas Kay (to Perth), Delvon Johnson (to Slovakia), and Cody Ellis and Rhys Martin, who both retired. To strengthen their roster, Illawarra added Jordair Jett (via NZNBL), Brian Conklin (via France), David Andersen (via Melbourne), Cedric Jackson (via USA), and rookies Emmett Naar and Daniel Grida. The team also retained key players AJ Ogilvy, Tim Coenraad, Nic Pozoglo and team captain Kevin Whiteu, aiming to build on their existing core.

Illawarra began the season with a dramatic quadruple-overtime thriller, narrowly losing to Melbourne (122–123). They followed this heartbreaking defeat with a heavy loss to Perth (101–61) but rebounded with a road win against Cairns (104–93). A brief two-game win streak later in October saw the Hawks secure victories against Brisbane (86–78) and Adelaide (120–109), momentarily seeing them sit in fifth place. However, inconsistency plagued the team, and they later endured a four-game losing streak in November, including defeats to Perth (81–90), Sydney (81–90), and Adelaide (79–104). Despite showing flashes of potential, the Hawks couldn’t maintain a consistent level of play, missing the playoffs with a 12-16 record.

Jordair Jett (11.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.5 steals across 28 games) delivered a solid season for Illawarra, providing a valuable presence at both ends of the court. His top performances included a 22-point, 2-rebound, and 5-assist effort against Cairns (21 October 2018), a 19-point and 2-rebound game against Perth (1 February 2019), and an 18-point, 4-rebound, and 7-assist performance against Adelaide (25 November 2018).

Alongside Jett, Illawarra was led offensively by Brian Conklin (14.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists), Todd Blanchfield (13.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists), and AJ Ogilvy (9.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks). Blanchfield’s strong season earned him the Hawks club MVP award as he consistently delivered reliable scoring, especially from the perimeter.

Despite strong individual performances, the Hawks’ inability to maintain consistency over the course of the season saw them miss the playoffs, finishing seventh with a 12-16 record in what was one of the most competitive seasons in NBL history.

Jordair Jett played two seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Townsville Crocodiles and the Illawarra Hawks. He averaged 13.2 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 56 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (832 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.